I applaud Blockbuster for at least trying to remain viable in the Internet age while maintaining their brick-and-morter stores. I have been very happy with my direct-mail DVD subscription, and my kids love going into our local store to exchange mailed titles for ones off the shelf.

Although I have had to call their customer support one time due to a failed download (the “retry” function did nothing to resolve the “corrupt license file” issue), I’m confident their On Demand service and subscription model will improve over time.

Last week I finally received my credit of $107 from BlockBuster for the return of my 2Wire. I don’t hate them, but I am pretty disappointed in my experience with them.

I am using NetFlix now and really enjoying it. They offer compatibility of their own with a couple of on-demand set-top boxes. I’ll probably check one of them out before too long.

But for now I can watch a few decent movies online from the NetFlix.com website at no additional charge above what I am paying for the mail-in program.

What a pain! When calling the number, I had to press 1 for English – the primary spoken language of the United States and most of Blockbuster’s customers. Then I had to put in my online account number. Next I had to try to communicate to the IVR that I wanted to speak to a human. This took numerous verbal responses as well as pushing 0. Finally a person came on who asked me again for my account number. I asked her why she needed it since I had already provided it, and she said it did not come up on the screen. So basically, Blockbuster’s IVR does nothing to help the customer, but might help Blockbuster by frustrating the customer and encouraging them to abandon their call.

The CSR told me that Blockbuster does not reimburse shipping costs for returning items. When she asked the reason for the return, her question was “buyer’s remorse?” My response was, “No, bad design. Terrible customer experience”. So, in a way there might be some buyer’s remorse, but let’s not word it in a way so as to try to blame the customer for Blockbuster’s shoddy product.

CSR put me on hold a few times to check on the return policy, and politely explained that they don’t refund shipping costs. In turn, I politely explained that I was following Blockbuster’s own instructions to me per the CSR I spoke with last time I called – who told me to call back with shipping costs to get them refunded.

In the end, I was told “no refund for shipping”, and that my $107 refund for the box itself would be processed within 3 to 5 business days after they received it – which was on January 10, 2009.

When the CSR thanked me for my call and asked me the obligatory “is there anything else I can help you with?”, I politely responded, “you did not help me with anything – what I need is to get my shipping costs refunded – so no”. I told her my beef was not with her, but with Blockbuster. I also advised her that I was writing about my experience, that I had gone over to NetFlix, and I was sorry that Blockbuster did not decide $11.45 was worth the good will to the public and its customer base.